Nyamwezi traders

Nyamwezi traders have been called in the literature both with the Swahili word wandewa and the Nyamwezi one vbandevba [see, for
instance, Unomah 1970]. These expressions were however used in Unyamwezi to refer more in general to rich or wealthy people, rather than specifically to traders. Traders were very often rich men,
but rich men were not always traders. In this paper I will use therefore the term "Nyamwezi traders" when talking about merchants from Unyamwezi. I wish to thank Dr. Frank Nolan for pointing this
out to me.